Wow this comment flash banged me, would never have expected someone to not like the second book if they enjoyed the first.
I’m not trying to disregard your opinion but for others that are thinking about reading the book I think this comment does not capture the quality of the Dark Forest. To name a few scenes I loved:
(SPOILER WARNING for Dark Forest: there are no specific story spoilers, just mentions of scenes from the book)
!The zero gravity assassination was thrilling to read.
The teardrop confrontation filled me with a sense of dread that I haven’t found in other recent sci-fi novels/media.
The interstellar ship Mexican standoff was terrifying to witness unfold.
The 4D sequences were conceptualized and explained in a way that I found interesting, if a little dense in content.
The ending left me with a feeling of both terror and hope which I had not experienced before.!<
Anyway, not trying to throw shade on your opinion but it sounds like you did not give it a fair go. They are HARD sci-fi books, they demand your time and focus to appreciate. If you can’t be bothered that’s fine, but to call them flawed is disingenuous imo.
Not saying I’m anything special by getting through them, but if I can read and comprehend (most) of what happened then it should be doable for the majority of people.
There were several times when I had to reread a page to understand what had happened but I enjoyed that process instead of simply giving up and I was rewarded with what has become my favourite series in the genre.
(I concede that I did not enjoy the third book nearly as much as the first two, but that’s not a good reason to ignore how awe inspiring the first two books are.)
If you’re reading this and want to give the trilogy a go as a sci-fi fan, you won’t regret it.
I guess that I’m like the OP. I read the first book. It was okay, but I didn’t really see what all the hype was about. The computing concepts were interesting (but surely someone could think of a more efficient way than what was described in the book). The proton just seemed absurd with no power source. It seems a stretch to call it hard sci-fi.
I couldn’t make it through the second book. It was one of the few books I just could not finish.
For me the first book was kinda ok, just good enough to continue with the second. Then the second and third books just kept getting better and better and better to an unbelievable degree.
Wow this comment flash banged me, would never have expected someone to not like the second book if they enjoyed the first.
I’m not trying to disregard your opinion but for others that are thinking about reading the book I think this comment does not capture the quality of the Dark Forest. To name a few scenes I loved:
(SPOILER WARNING for Dark Forest: there are no specific story spoilers, just mentions of scenes from the book)
Anyway, not trying to throw shade on your opinion but it sounds like you did not give it a fair go. They are HARD sci-fi books, they demand your time and focus to appreciate. If you can’t be bothered that’s fine, but to call them flawed is disingenuous imo. Not saying I’m anything special by getting through them, but if I can read and comprehend (most) of what happened then it should be doable for the majority of people. There were several times when I had to reread a page to understand what had happened but I enjoyed that process instead of simply giving up and I was rewarded with what has become my favourite series in the genre.
(I concede that I did not enjoy the third book nearly as much as the first two, but that’s not a good reason to ignore how awe inspiring the first two books are.)
If you’re reading this and want to give the trilogy a go as a sci-fi fan, you won’t regret it.
I guess that I’m like the OP. I read the first book. It was okay, but I didn’t really see what all the hype was about. The computing concepts were interesting (but surely someone could think of a more efficient way than what was described in the book). The proton just seemed absurd with no power source. It seems a stretch to call it hard sci-fi.
I couldn’t make it through the second book. It was one of the few books I just could not finish.
I still don’t understand what the hype is about.
For me the first book was kinda ok, just good enough to continue with the second. Then the second and third books just kept getting better and better and better to an unbelievable degree.